Established 1963

Affiliated to the North Wales Photographic Association

Competitions

Mold Camera Club Internal Competitions

Themed competitions. 

 Definitions for Themed Competitions

Reflections

Any image that contains reflections or an interpretation of the word reflection and its many meanings.  Lots to reflect on for this theme!

Food

Pictures of food, about food, creating food.  Plenty of food for thought in this theme!

Competition Rules

PLEASE READ THE COMPETITION RULES CAREFULLY

Entries to all competitions must comply with the rules set out below, failure to do so will result in your entry being rejected.

1. For all competitions

1.1. Entries (and all constituent parts of images) must be the photographer’s original work, must originate as photographs (image-captures of objects via light sensitivity) and must be made on photographic emulsion or acquired digitally. Images may be altered – electronically or otherwise – by the photographer. The photographer must own the copyright for all parts of the images submitted.

1.2. Pictures can only be submitted once for the monthly competitions but can be used again in the print of the Year or PDI of the Year competitions.

1.3. The committee reserve the right to exclude any image that they feel is inappropriate to be shown at the club. The decision will rest with the Chairman and Competition Secretary, but they may also call on others for a further opinion. If an image is excluded the author will be notified and given reasons why it is felt to be inappropriate

2. Competitions 1 to 6

2.1. The club holds 6 internal competitions during the season as detailed in the Competition Schedule.

2.2. You can submit up to three images into each competition.

2.3. Images that are indistinguishable from those previously submitted by the author cannot be used.  This includes images taken in the same ‘burst’ as well as those modified simply by the use of filters, conversion to monochrome etc.

2.4. Images that are the same or substantially similar cannot be submitted as both a Print and PDI.

2.5. Judges are asked to award up to 20 points for the winning image in each section and shall base the points for all other entries on how close they are to the winning image.

2.6. Print Photographer and PDI Photographer of the Year are awarded and the winner in each section is calculated by adding up all points awarded in either PDI or prints in competitions 1 to 6.

2.7. Photographer of the Year is calculated by adding up all points awarded in both PDI and prints competitions 1 to 6.

3. Print Competitions

3.1. Prints can be any size up to 40 x 50cm, but the mount must be no bigger than 40 x 50cm.

3.2. The print title must be written clearly on the back of the mount, positioned centrally at the top. Your competition number and competition date should be written on the back at the top right of the mount.

3.3. Under no circumstances should you place self-adhesive labels or use exposed self-adhesive tape on the print.  This is to prevent damage to other prints.  Any prints that we feel may cause damage to other prints will be excluded from the competition

3.4. Please make certain that your name or other means of identifying you is not present on the picture.

3.5. Prints can be home or commercially printed.

3.6. Please provide a PDI of each print entered.  These will be used to project your print onto the screen instead of using the video camera.  You should use the same criteria as the PDI rules below and should be entered using our online entry system as described below.

4. PDI Competitions

4.1. Your pictures must be resized to be no more than 1600 pixels wide by 1200 pixels high. So, if your picture is landscape in format it should be 1600 pixels wide and up to 1200 pixels high. If it is in portrait format it should be 1200 pixels high. Recommended resolution is 72ppi (pixels per inch)

4.2. Images must not have your name in the file name or on the picture. Please remove all personal references from the metadata before submission.

4.3. Images should be submitted as .jpg files which should not exceed 2Mb.  All metadata should be removed.

4.4. Multi-layer images must be flattened before saving.

4.5. The images must be sRGB NOT CMYK Convert your images to sRGB colour space.

4.6. Images should be entered using our online entry system.  Detail instruction can be found below.

Detailed instructions on how to submit your entries using our online competition software are available on our Facebook group or from Richard using moldcameraclubcomps@gmail.com

Words of Wisdom from Photography Experts

James Estrin, Photo Editor, New York Times Lens Blog

“...when I judge a contest I look for photographs that make me feel something. Anything. I also look for stories that are original. I see thousands of stories a year and most are sadly quite similar. So a story that I haven’t seen before, or a unique approach to a story that I have seen before goes very, very far. Take chances!”

Sarah Leen, Photo Editor, National Geographic

“What separates a good photo from a great photo is a feeling somewhere between what I feel physically and what I would call an ‘aesthetic experience.’ It’s almost like the beginning of a love affair, you are just drawn to the image, you are lifted off your feet, you are moved. You just have to have it. You want to ask them to dance.”

Jim Casper, Editor-in-Chief, LensCulture

“Every great picture tells a story and should be able to stand on its own, but viewers are often eager to know a little bit more about what the photo is about. So a simple title or caption, or a few words, can make a great photo really come to life in someone’s imagination. If you’ve created a series of images, think of them as a story. Choose a very strong image to start off the series to make a powerful first impression.”

Download these handy pdfs from Lensculture:

THE LENSCULTURE GUIDE FOREMERGING PHOTOGRAPHERS

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITIONS